Cheating death 101

You enter the room of a gravely ill friend where hope has vanished. Your thoughts weigh heavy. The family expects a quick passing. Doctors have proclaimed there are but a few hours left. The room is dark, both mentally and physically. You feel helpless.

But, what if you could do something, something that made a difference?

Two last-minute healing experiences, I am aware of, show it’s possible for you to be of help. The first involves Joseph Mann and a thirty-two-caliber revolver. The second details Mary Belt’s time at the Clara Barton Hospital in Los Angeles. While I briefly describe these accounts, for a point of emphasis, I am suggesting that you are the healer.

Joseph Mann was accidentally shot with the thirty-two-caliber revolver. Four doctors concluded that nothing could be done to save him. As his body was growing cold and death perspiration was on his forehead, you were allowed to enter his home.

Mann later stated, "Within about fifteen minutes after you had been admitted into our house I began suddenly to grow warm again under your treatment. My breath was again revived and normal. I became conscious, opened my eyes and knew I should not die, but would live." And, he was right.

Mary Belt was healed of cancer, while at the Clara Barton Hospital. A nurse mentioned that Belt was resting easier and not suffering so much pain soon after she was receiving your treatment. But then one evening she appeared to have passed on. The nurse was unable to locate a pulse. Every symptom indicated a passing. The head nurse recorded Belt’s death.

Then you stepped in front of Mary Belt and called her by name. The second time you called, she opened her eyes and breathed a natural breath. Within a few days she left the hospital, healed. Belt stated, "When I awoke from that condition, I felt and knew that I was healed."

Both Mann and Belt awoke and knew that they were well. Who convinced them? You did. Ok, actually the real healers in these cases were a concerned friend of Mann’s and Belt’s brother. However, it could have been you, couldn't it?

How could you have accomplished this?

In the health care arena, there is an explosion of interest in spirituality’s ability to make physical changes. Harold Koenig, MD, associate professor of medicine and psychiatry at Duke University, is a senior author of Handbook of Religion and Health, a comprehensive examination of the impact of spirituality on well-being. The book details nearly 1,200 studies that explore the effects of prayer. Koenig states, “Traditional religious beliefs have a variety of effects on personal health.”

If prayer can help in times of physical crisis, how does it accomplish this? Perhaps, prayer heals because our bodies are more thought-based, than matter-based.

Physician and spiritual teacher, Deepak Chopra, has written, “There is something more complex in the cosmos than the human brain: the process that makes the brain work. This process involves consciousness. It is our mind that is using the brain, not the other way around. I would argue that the brain is a creation of the mind, a physical projection of consciousness.”

There is a growing recognition that not only is the brain “a creation of the mind,” but, as well, our entire bodies. And if the entire body is actually thought manifest, then a change of thought is needed for healing. This change of thought is accomplished not simply with wishful thinking, but rather with a growing awareness of your divine consciousness, God, and an increasing confidence in your potential to express God’s ability to save.

Perhaps, a statement by Mary Baker Eddy, a Christian healer in the early 1900s, can shed light on this type of mental treatment. She wrote, "The healer begins by mental argument. He mentally says, 'You are well, and you know it;' and he supports this silent mental force by audible explanation, attestation, and precedent. His mental and oral arguments aim to refute the sick man's thoughts, words, and actions, in certain directions, and turn them into channels of Truth. He persists in this course until the patient's mind yields, and the harmonious thought has the full control over this mind on the point at issue. The end is attained, and the patient says and feels, ‘I am well, and I know it.’"

The prayerful treatment of a friend and brother awoke Mann and Belt. However, what empowered them to do so? Can it empower you?

Again, if changing a person's belief can change their body, this activity must be animated by something stronger than wishful thinking or human will. This something is the divine consciousness or Truth. And while acquiring a deeper spiritual understanding that builds spiritual conviction, to the degree that you express humility and selflessness, to that degree you will also manifest the divine ability to heal. Mary Baker Eddy explained, “Tumors, ulcers, tubercles, inflammation, pain, deformed joints, are waking dream-shadows, dark images of mortal thought, which flee before the light of Truth.”

The Bible reveals that Jesus was a master awakener. A study of his words and works helps grow healthy convictions. Although spiritual awakenings lead to physical health, and this is wonderful, it is not the end goal. The awakening should cause us to recognize, in some measure, the absolute spiritual sense of existence.

You may not accomplish dramatic cures at first, with your prayerful presence, but your desire and growing spiritual maturity can help bring hope and peace to many.

– Keith Wommack is a Syndicated Columnist, Christian Science practitioner and teacher, husband, and step-dad. He is a legislative liaison for spiritual healing & Christian Science in Texas. He has been described as a spiritual spur (since every horse needs a little nudge now and then). Keith’s syndicated columns/blogs originate at: http://texashealthblog.com/

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